My name this week...

is...

Clever McCleverpants.  And I can hold the hotdog just like a dumb-bell without nomming it!

While this one got lost in her own back yard and howled her little heart out till mumma came and rescued her. 

 

And these two were just plain mischief!

  

Breakdown of the hotdog retrieve, for anyone interested.

Steps mainly follow:
Pre-req for good understanding of 'zen' related food refusal (self control, impulse control), front and finish

I'm deliberately not spelling out steps on some of the skill-sets as there's thousands of others who've covered it well and truly, except where I've done things in a way I want to remember.
1.) shaped retrieve of dumbbell
a.) pick up and take the correct 'bit' of the dumbbell instead of picking it up from other areas
b.) pick up and hold from hand - no duration/distraction at this point
c.) pick up and bring shaping from just lifting off the ground to normal carrying height and then bringing it, duration, distraction, distance
d.) teach to release specifically into the hand and not any other location properly, duration, distraction
    d.1.) backing up to hold from hand duration and distraction (seemed more natural progression)
e.) add in distance,duration, distractions to Whole Picture
f.) stim cont
2.) chaining and proofing retrieve with front and finish and proof those for distance/duration/distraction
3.) introducing 'hotdog' in a "can't eat it" form (frozen and either in a PVC tube if your dog is persistent (has a grip that's hard enough to break plasticwrap) like Sierra or in plasticwrap if they're easier (like Hope) and introduce as a substitute dumbbell and work the idea back up.  Work on a take and hold with the froze/pvc hotdog, starting brief and working up duration
5.) begin unwrapping small bits of the end, zen work with no sniffing/licking/grabbing the tempty bits and work on take and hold, up duration
6.) unwrap more and more progressively until you are working with the unwrapped frozen hotdog.(This is where Hope is at atm.)
7.) add in carrying it over a distance
8.) pick unwrapped froze hotdog off the floor and bring it
9.) switch to partially thawed, then raw, then cooked cool, then cooked warm hotdogs (dogs may transition easily and jump from froze to cooked or need the transitions)
10.) put it all together so that it's a formal start position, send out, retrieve and release

We will also have to proof this for the hotdog having icky sawdust on it as well as the test will occur in a horse arena which the floor is compacted sawdust.  (Blerg!)

The reason we're not a bit further is I was training when tired and my timing in marking was um, just a fraction of a hair late.  Which I noticed when (you get what you reinforce) my dog started deliberately relaxing her jaw allowing it to roll out after having a nice firm hold, while I tried to get duration extension!  *sigh*  Oh well, easy fixed, just no more training at midnight! ;p

Ye Olde Hotdog Retrieve

Okay, so it's not a real hotdog because I'm a special sort of snowflake and that would make me gag which is hugely counterproductive.  However Miss Hopie is being taught the hotdog retrieve (using a 'just as tempting but not-hotdog sausage') as our trick for getting into agility classes at the end of the month to prove I can train and she can learn.  It's easy enough to teach and hopefully it looks swish enough for us to earn enough points to get in to the training center because I really, really don't want to wait ages before testing again and would vastly prefer to just be able to train.  The whole trick will involve her going out to hotdog that is thrown as if it were a dumbbell in an obedience exercise, have it retrieved, front and handed over neatly before finishing.  It's coming along pretty well at the moment, I'll try in a few days to get a picture of her being a clever bean. :)